Brace for vehicles, especially for automobiles



FeE. 24, i R TARBOX BRACE FOR VEHICLES, ESPECIALLY FOR AUTOMOBILES FiledOct. 30. 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR J. P. TARBOX Feb. 24, 194%.

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Patented Feb. 24, 1948 BRACE FOR VEHICLES, ESPECIALLY FOR AUTOMOBILESJohn P. Tarbox, Philadelphia, Pa., assignor to The Budd Company,Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application October 30,1943, Serial No. 508,319

1 Claim. 1

The invention relates to a brace for reinforcing vehicle bodies and moreparticularly the ends of automobile bodies. More specifically, theinvention relates to improvements in the type of brace disclosed inPatent No. 2,289,395, Theodore Ulrich, for End wall construction forvehicle bodies, issued July 14, 1942.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide a brace of theindicated type which is extremely strong yet light.

Another object of the invention is to provide a brace which requires, inspite of its strength, comparatively little room so that it does notimpede the room required for the driving motor or other parts to behoused in the body, and which does not impede the accessibility of suchmotor or parts.

The aforesaid objects of the invention and further advantages areoutstandingly achieved by use of an inclined brace arranged in the endcompartment of an automobile and formin a closed box sectional girderwith the walls to which it is attached.

The invention, its details and its advantages will be easily understoodfrom the embodiment illustrated in the attached drawing and described inthe following.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the front end of a combinedautomobile body and chassis frame structure.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary section on a larger scale along the longitudinalvertical center plane of the body shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is above the center line a section along line 3-3 and below thecenter line a section along line 3-3 of Fig. 2 on a still larger scale.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary section along line 4-4 of Fig, 3.

The illustrated body, preferably made of sheet metal, comprises sidepanels 9, each constituting a wheel housing skirt Ill, a wheel housingcrown II and a cowl side wall I2. The lower margins of these panels areattached to the flanges of laterally facing U-section sills I3, Adashboard I4 has its flanged vertical margins secured at I5 to the sidepanels 9 and separates the front compartment from the main compartmentof the body. The panel I4 comprises a substantially vertical portion, alower inclined toe board portion I6 which merges into the floor panel I6and an upper rearwardly inclined portion I! which merges into the top I8of the cowl and the lower frame for the windshield I9. The rear marginof the cowl top and frame member I8 is secured to the top margin of theinstrument board 20.

Box sectional door posts 2i have their lower ends secured to the sillsI3. The outer sides of the posts 2I are overlapped by and secured to therear margins of the cowl sides I2. The ends of the instrument board 20are secured to the inner sides of the posts 2 I. The middle portion ofpanel I4 is rearwardly recessed at I4.

The side sills 98 are interconnected at some distance in front of thepanel I4 by a transverse sill I3. r

The side panels 9 and the dashboard I4 are reinforced and mutuallyinterbraced by a brace structure 22. This brace structure 22 has thegeneral form of an inverted U and is arranged in a plane extending fromabout the connection between the side sills I3 and the cross sill l3upwardly and rearwardly and coinciding preferably approximately with theplane defined by the inclined upper portions 2| of the front posts.

The brace structure 22 is throughout its length U-shaped in crosssection with a bottom wall 23 and an upper side wall 24 and a lower sidewall 25. The wall 25 overlaps and is secured substantially throughoutits length to the skirts Ill and the dashboard It by a lateral flange26. The upper wall 24 is connected in the same manner to the skirt ID byflanges 21. In the space between the side walls, the upper wall 2 5overlaps with its rear margin the front margin of the panel portion I1and is secured thereto as by spot welding. In the corners between theside walls 9 and the dashboard I l corner pieces 28 are provided whichwiden the walls 24 and 25 so as to avoid difficulties in the manufactureof the structure 22. The attachment of the pieces 28 by overlappingportions and by spot welding.is clearly indicated in the drawing.

The lower ends of the structure 22 are secured by tongues 29 and 30 tothe top walls of the side sills I3 and the cross sill I3, respectively.

A bracket 3| is inserted on each side of the body between the dashboardI4 and the adjacent post 2|, The brackets are angle shaped in crosssection and are attached by marginal flanges 32, 33 and 34 to the cowlside wall I2, the inclined transverse panel portion I1, the dashboard I4and the posts 2I so that they form together with said members closed boxsection extensions of the side arms of the structure 22.

The side arms of the structure 22, together with the side panels 9, thebrackets 3|, the panel portion I! and the upper post portions 2Iconstitute in effect substantially straight inclined beams 3 whichtransmit stresses from the sills i2. I 2 of the under frame structureinto the roof structure 35. The attachment of the lower ends of thestructure 22 is preferably in the region of the wheels (not shown).

The bracestructure 22 requires but very little space so that it does notcrowd the motor if arranged in a motor compartment or, does not detractconsiderably rom the storage space it arranged; for fence at the rearend of a vehicle, in a luggage compartment.

The brace structure 22 terms also an eflective transverse and diagonalbrace between the side walls, and between the side walls and thedashboard.

The invention is, of course, not restricted to the illustratedembodiment.- For instance, the form of the brace has to be adapted tothe particular form of the body or its end compartment to which it isapplied. All modifications ar intended'to be covered by the attachedclaim.

,What is claimed is:

In a vehicle body, an end compartment comprising side wails and atransverse partition between the end compartment and the adjoining maincompartment; a brace structure of inverted U-iorm having its side armsarranged along the side walls and its middle portion along the trans-,

4 verse partition and extending in a transverse plane which is upwardlyinclined from near the ,-lower me of the body toward the transversevertical middle plane of the body, the brace structure having U-sectionarms anda middle portion,

the open sides of the U-sections facing, being closed by and havingtheir margins secured to said side panels and said partition,respectively.

JOHN P. TARBOX.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES Pam-rs

